Auburn soccer earns home match with FIU to open NCAA Tournament

Auburn will host the Conference USA Tournament Champion FIU Panthers on November 15 to open postseason play.

The magical 2024 Auburn soccer season is not over just yet.

The Tigers, who scuffled down the stretch of a once dominant 2024 campaign, earned a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament after a 12-3-4 regular season.

Head coach Karen Hoppa’s Tigers will open their quest for a national championship at the Auburn Soccer Complex on November 15, where they will host the Conference USA Tournament Champion FIU Panthers at 6 PM CST. The Panthers, who finished the regular season 13-4-2, played one game against SEC competition this season, losing to Oklahoma in a 2-1 thriller early in the year.

Led by senior [autotag]Anna Haddock[/autotag] and sophomore [autotag]Olivia Woodson[/autotag] up front along with senior goalkeeper [autotag]Maddie Prohaska[/autotag] on the back line, the Tigers can make a deep run into the tournament if they can find the form that helped the team outscore opponents 30-0 to open the season.

The aforementioned Haddock is confident in her team’s ability to re-find what made them one of the best teams in the country early in the season.

“We have what we need to be successful this postseason,” Haddock said. “All that matters is each other… I’m excited to show everyone what we can do moving forward.”

This is the 18th time Auburn has been selected to ‘The Dance’ in its’ history. The Tigers’ best finish came back in 2016 when they made a run to the Elite 8 before bowing out at the hands of eventual National Champion USC. If Karen Hoppa hopes to lead the Tigers to their first Final Four in program history, it will take a major turnaround after Auburn ended its season winning just one of its final five games.

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Maddie Prohaska named SEC Defensive Player of the Week second week in a row

The last time an SEC player received back-to-back Defensive Player of the Week honors was September 2017.

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The last time an SEC player received back-to-back Defensive Player of the Week honors was September 2017. This week, Auburn freshman goalkeeper Maddie Prohaska changes that.

This spring Prohaska has started at goalkeeper in each match for the Tigers and allowed only one goal. Her efforts on Saturday led the team to their fourth shutout in five games this spring with a 1-0 double overtime victory over Louisville. Saturday’s shutout was Prohaska’s seventh this season as well as her sixth solo shutout.

The back-to-back accolades aren’t the first this season for the talented freshman as Prohaska was also named SEC Freshman of the Week on September 21 after an impressive debut performance against Mississippi State.

Her impressive save percentage (0.842) currently leads the league. Karen Hoppa was elated to see the freshman star get back-to-back recognition Monday and said,

“We are so excited for Maddie to win back-to-back SEC Defensive Player of the Week honors. Getting a shutout on the road against a quality ACC team is a great accomplishment, and we are glad to see that accomplishment recognized by the league.”